The present invention is directed to a dual side album leaf and method and apparatus for making the album leaf.
Prior art photographic albums typically require the consumer to manually insert conventional prints into a classic sleeve, or use adhesive to bond conventional prints to blank album pages. This is a time consuming, difficult operation that provides less than satisfactory results. Consumers often procrastinate and do not place prints in albums when they receive them from the photofinisher, risking loosing time and event references. A further disadvantage in the prior art photographic albums is that the pages are not uniform in texture, the reflections from the plastic sleeves interfere with viewing, and are prone to tearing. When adhesives are used to maintain the prints in the album, alignment becomes critical. Additionally, many adhesives can damage a print and often fail after time, thus, allowing the prints to fall out of the album. In addition, the multiple layers make for very thick album pages, thus limiting the number of images that can be stored in a given album. Also, in addition to purchasing separate binder album pages, adhesive and other items are sometimes required to be purchased.
It is known in the art to bind prints in a single album, such as a Qualex Galaxy Print Book, but this is limited to one image per single sided page.
It is also known in the art that montage prints can be made by digital and conventional optical techniques. However, these montage prints are limited in that they are only available in single-sided form and not specifically designed for use directly into an album.
It has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,692 that a dual sided album leaf can be made by folding of a sheet having images on one side so as to produce a single album leaf having images on both sides. While this invention has provided a method of producing images on both sides of an album leaf made of photographic media, there is still a need to provide a method and apparatus for producing multiple album pages in a continuous manner both on photosensitive media and standard media.
The present invention solves many of the problems of the prior art that provides a method of making a unitary dual sided album leaf which is relatively easy to produce, relatively thin in construction, on both photosensitive and standard media, and requires no further mounting by the user.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for making a photo album leaf from a media having a front and back side, the front side having a photosensitive layer on which digital images may be printed, the back side having an adhesive layer thereon and a protective release layer covering the adhesive layer, the apparatus comprising;
a processing path along which the media moves through the apparatus;
a digital printer disposed along the processing path for printing images on the front side of the media, the images being composed so as to define a segment having a fold line about which the segment is folded so as to form the leaf;
a processing section disposed after the printer along the processing path for processing the media on which the images have been written;
a removal mechanism for removing the protective release layer from the segment;
a folding mechanism for folding the segment so as to form an album leaf.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for making an integral album leaf, comprising the steps of:
providing a media having a front side and back side, the front side having a photosensitive layer on which images may be written, the back side having an adhesive layer thereon and a release protective layer covering the adhesive layer;
advancing the media along a processing path,
printing images on the photosensitive layer on front side of the media, the images being composed so as to define a segment having a fold line about which the segment may be folded for forming of the leaf;
developing the images on the media;
removing the protective release layer
cutting the media so as to separate the segment from the media; and
folding the segment so as to form an integral leaf.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an automatic folding apparatus for folding a segment of a photosensitive material so as to form an integral leaf, comprising:
a transporting mechanism for transporting the segment along a processing path, the transporting mechanism comprising a pair of drive belt assemblies spaced apart a predetermined distance so as to form an opening therebetween, at least one of the drive belt assemblies capable of moving the segment in either direction along the processing path;
a fold-initiating assembly for initiating a fold in the segment located at the opening between the drive belt assemblies, the transporting mechanism moving the segment through the space so as to form the leaf
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of automatically making an integral album leaf, comprising the steps of:
providing a segment of a media having a front side and a back side, the front side having a plurality of images thereon, the plurality of images being composed on the media so as to define a fold line about which the segment is to be folded, the back side having an adhesive layer thereon;
providing a pair of drive belt assemblies spaced apart a predetermined distance so as to form an opening therebetween, at least one of the drive belt assemblies capable of moving the segment in either direction along the processing path;
positioning the segment on the belt assemblies such that the back side is positioned away from the belt assemblies and the fold line of the media is in co-alignment with the opening;
initiating a fold along the fold line; and
moving the belt assemblies so that the back side of the segment is folded about the fold line so as to form the integral album leaf.
In accordance with still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for printing digital images on a media, comprising the steps of:
providing a strip of a media having a front side and back side;
advancing the media along a processing path,
printing images on the photosensitive layer on front side of the media, the images being composed so as to define a segment having a fold line about which the segment is folded so as to form the leaf;
cutting the media so as to from a segment of a predetermined length; and
folding the segment so as to form an integral leaf.
The above, and other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying detailed description thereof when considered in conjunction with the following drawings.